A good cane is hand selected. And a good cane is cared for. The better the selection and care process, the longer your cane will last.

A practical recreational rod measures about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch in diameter (the narrower, the stingier), and from 24 to 32 inches long. A yard-long school cane is difficult to control without much practice. Considerably less expensive than fancy paddles and floggers, canes have another distinct advantage: their impact makes very little noise, an important consideration if your bedroom has thin walls with nosy neighbors on the other side. (Noise made by the recipient is another matter.) A good cane need not be straight as an arrow. In selecting one, stroke vertically in its natural direction of bend and beware of any wobble to the left or right. A few gentle swings should reveal its flexibility. Do not attempt to bend the cane into a circle; this will damage it.

The British public school tradition insists on a crook handle for hanging the cane menacingly on the wall, but a loop attached to the end of a straight cane serves the same purpose. Sometimes the end of a cane is steam-bent into a complete turn to form a handle, but the best natural handle is the knob at the root end of a rattan stalk. Knob-handled canes are rare indeed.

Some merciful schoolmasters used to brace the crook against their forearms in a style that prevented any wrist action, also shortening the cane’s effective length. If you purchase a crook-handle cane, be sure the crook is properly aligned relative to the cane’s natural bend to suit your grip and stroking style. Crooks also serve to prevent the cane from flying away, as does a straight-cane handle wrapping. Use a thin leather thong (kangaroo is ideal), racket-handle tape, shrink-wrap, or bicycle handlebar wrap. Electrical tape works too, but lacks elegance.

Care

Canes are usually sanded to remove some or all of the bark and to smooth the joints. A “peeled” cane with all the heavy bark removed is much less dense, so it’s less severe as well, making it a good cane for beginners. It’s also more fragile and should be frequently examined for splinters. Unsealed, such a cane soaks up bodily fluids like a sponge so its use should be restricted to light play or limited to one particular bottom. Sealing a sanded cane with repeated light coatings of shellac, varnish, or polyurethane prevents it from soaking up bodily fluids. Leaving all the bark on results in a heavy, stiff cane with joints that may cause more bruising than you’d like.
Another efficient way to seal it (and keep it flexible) is to regularly treat your can with cooked linseed oil. The oil will take the place of potentially “incoming” body fluids.

Canes should be stood upright with their business ends in an inch of water and left standing overnight every few months. The fibers will draw in the water, keeping the ends from drying out and splitting. Purists advise sanding and resealing the end each time, but this isn’t necessary if only the very end is left unsealed. The tip should never dig into your target, anyway. A split end may be trimmed off, but be sure to sand it to a smooth, rounded tip before re-use. Taping the tip retards splitting.

The above article is a reprint from our information/educational site Kink Culture.
A joint project between Wastealnd.Com and Power Erotics